Phone Service Sucks!
by Dancing Feather
Summary: If there are phones in Hoenn, Jerry can't find them. :It's a oneshot prequel to another oneshot. Because that makes total sense: To everyone who felt something odd was missing from every house in Hoenn. Part of the Everything Sucks Series.


I don't care how small the spelling or grammatical error is, if you see one, tell me! You don't need to read any of the other Everything Sucks Series to understand this one (Unless you suck). But if you like this, you may want to look up the others (you know, just a thought). If you have read the others, this one focuses on Jerry. If you like Stan, you'll find Jerry a whiner, worry wart and something else that starts with a W.

* * *

**Phone Service Sucks!**

Technology was constantly advancing. Jerry figured that was the case because everyone else told him this. Even his best friend Stan told him things were constantly getting better. But something was bothering him. When Stan reminded him that everything bothered him, he calmed down a bit. Then he became more paranoid wondering why everything bothered him in the first place.

"Oh Zoo," Jerry sighed as he sat beside his Grovyle on the bench just outside Route 116, "are you my only answer aside from my anti depressant pills?" Zoo made no sound (not that grass Pokémon talk much normally), but leaned into her trainer causing Jerry to subconsciously start stroking her back. There was no Pokémon battle going on and and despite the occasional Pidgey chirping, it was quiet.

For a paranoid boy, it might have been too quiet.

"Want to go to the Pokécenter?" Jerry gave a small smile and was rewarded with a nod. Taking her Pokéball, he pushed the button on Zoo's nose recalling her back in. "I should call Stan and figure out if he knows anything about Zangoose." He sighed. He heard that those critters lived on route 114, but they never seem to show up.

They probably thought he was ugly.

When Jerry reached the Pokécenter, there was a long line inside. Excusing and pardoning himself, he got to the phone booths in the back. Each one had a person attached, and Jerry decided to ask the one closest to him. "Um, excuse me?" He waved at the twelve year old girl. "I'm sorry, but when will you be done?"

"In about fifteen minutes or so." She cocked her head. "But you have to be fair and get in line."

"Line?" Jerry looked behind and noticed that the crowd of people hanging around were not even near the counter. "You mean, everyone is here to use the phones? Not one single person here is to heal their Pokémon?"

"Probably five out of those twenty or so people are trainers." The girl shrugged. "Now excuse me, my friend is telling me what recently happened to the lead singer from Junichi Masuda!"

"Really? What happened?" The girl was surprised not to hear sarcasm coming from the older boy, but sound of actual concern.

"Wait! Wait, Cassandra..." the girl said to the other on the phone, "this boy likes Junichi Masuda!" Jerry felt embarrassed as he heard the girl on the other end give a cry of surprise. "I've never met a boy fan before!"

"I've never met any fan before." Jerry mumbled to himself.

"What?" The now more chirpier girl asked.

"I said, what happened to him?" Jerry corrected himself.

"Oh, he got attacked by some rabid fans. Cassandra says they broke two of his ribs!"

"Oh no!" Jerry blocked his gaping mouth his his hands. "Is he going to be alright?"

"He's in the hospital now. She says it might be months before he will go back on stage again."

"Did they catch the people who did it?"

"Just two of them. There are at least four more hiding." As the two continued to chatter, the line for the phones became more irritated. They became increasingly more angry when the girl submitted her phone to the boy who hadn't waited as long as they. "I'm done. Here," she handed the receiver to him, "I'm glad to meet a boy who thinks Junichi Masuda is cool too!"

"Um, thanks-" he smiled meekly before a shout from the crowd broke his brief happiness.

"Hey! That's not fair!"

"I've been sitting here almost an hour!"

"Yeah! We get first dibs!" Hearing the resistance, Jerry began to back down.

"Thank you very much, uh..."

"Sally." The girl frowned sadly.

"Yeah." Jerry tried to wave it off. "Thank you very much Sally, but they have a point."

"If you say so..." Sally handed the phone to a very jittery individual. "I hope you don't have to wait too long."

"There are ten phones in this building, I think I will be fine!"

An hour or so later, Jerry felt like killing himself. Like when most people felt it, he wasn't going to go through with it. The hypocritical feeling was just hanging there entertaining him while he waited his turn. Zoo thankfully lessened his grief along with Bumble, his Zigzagoon. Who growled happily on his lap, as he was a lazy creature who enjoyed doing exactly nothing. This made Bumble the perfect Pokémon for a pet, but not the greatest for a trainer who loved winning battles. So I guess he was perfect for Jerry.

"_**Bumble? What the Hell- What kind of name is Bumble?" **He remembered Stan teasing in the mist of battle._

"_**He's striped like a bee you bastard!" **Was his reply._

"_**Okay, chill! I was just curious... Fume! Kick it's ass!"**__And Fume did so. In one move his chicken leg connected with Bumble's head and he was sent flying.** "What do you know," **Stan grinned, posing his hands on his waist,** "he also squishes like a bee!"**_

"_**I hate you!"** Jerry wept._

Then, that uneasy feeling began creeping back. It wasn't from that flashback, but from the next one that was about to show...

"_**Probably five out of those twenty or so people are trainers." **Sally shrugged._

This flashback was equally short, as Jerry isn't that found of reminiscing. He didn't have enough happy memories to be doing that on a constant basis. Because unhappy memories lead to regret, which lead to doubt. He knew that would make him more paranoid, so he asked his brain to stop monologuing and finish this paragraph so the damn story could continue already.

His brain complied.

This time.

_'If only five of them are trainers, what are these other people doing here?'_ He thought (flashbacks are redundant).

"Excuse me, sir-" He said to the man in front of him. "Has there been a phone thief?"

"What?" Jerry took a back step and coughed.

"I mean, is phone service down?" He felt heat rise to his cheeks as the man gave the expression that said, 'you sound stupid'.

"Seeing that all the phones here work..." the man waved behind him, "It looks like to me that there isn't any phone problems."

"But... but most of you are not Pokémon trainers."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Pokémon trainers don't have phones, so they come to Pokécenters to use them." The man continued to stare at him, so Jerry decided it was safe to continue. "So why are the citizens of Rustboro City here?"

"Because that's where the phones are."

"Don't you have a phone in your house?"

"No. Why would I?"

"To avoid traffic like this!" Jerry waved at the line.

"You know kid," the man rubbed his chin, "that's actually a good idea! You should submit that! I'm sure they'll pay a pretty dime for that! Wouldn't it be cool to have a phone in the house!"

Jerry eyes boggled, but they stayed in his head (thankfully). _'How did I not notice until now?'_ Jerry stepped back from the line._ 'How has anybody not realized this until now?' _The man in front of him went from praising him to just standing back in line again. _'Why do we have the ability to put large animals in small containers and not have a phone in every house? What if there was a fire? What happens when your robbed? What- what... what...'_

Zoo held sleeping Bumble close to her. As she watched her trainer begin another panic attack, she wondered why the lack of those noisy stationary objects had that affect on him. Being a calm creature, she waited for the whole thing to blow over. Surely panic attacks don't last too long. Well, they can, but his didn't. Too bad for her.

And everyone else in the Pokécenter.

"Is that boy drooling?"


End file.
